Pit Road Week 29: Dover

Weekly Review and Power Rankings

Week 29

By Richard Tix

After Dover NASCAR officially is down to 12 drivers remaining in the Chase for a Sprint Cup Title. Aric Almirola, AJ Allmendinger, Kurt Busch, and Greg Biffle all dropped out of the running at the Moster Mile. 

Some drivers impressed in the first three races (BK, JoLo, Harvick, and Gordon) while others had there struggles (Kahne, Hamlin, and Edwards) but they all get to move on and start fresh. So who will come out strong in the next three Chase races? Will someone lock in there spot at Kansas or will an underdog steal a win? We will dive into that in this weeks preview on Wednesday, until the check out this weeks Power Rankings.

Pit Road Power Rankings Week 29 (Week 28)

1. Brad Keselowski (LW-1)- If he starts to struggle this round then the first three races will be forgoten quickly, but right now he is on fire. He won the first race, fought through adversity for a 7th, and then came up just short yesterday (2nd). 
2. Joey Logano (LW-2)- The first round was all about Team Penske, but that round is over and doesn't mean a thing for the next three races, Everyone starts over so there is no rest in the #22 camp.
3. Jeff Gordon (LW-6)- Gordon had a rough finish to Loudon (blowing a right front late), but he bounced back in a huge way at Dover with a win. It's too bad he can't use that in knowing he will be in the next round, because it all starts over again this week,
4. Kevin Harvick (LW-3)- 223 laps led on the day for Harvick. He get's into the next round and was fast, thats what should be important to him right now. 
5. Jimmie Johnson (LW-4)- A full Dover race with JJ not leading a single lap? JJ still finished 3rd on the day, but Harvick got the nod over JJ because of how much he ran in front.
6. Kyle Busch (LW-7)- Quietly he has turned his rough regular season into an impressive post season (7th, 8th, and 10th). He started top 5 in all three Chase races so far, which has helped, but he is also turning on some consistency. 
7. Matt Kenseth (LW-8)- Speaking of consistency, Matt Kenseth got into the Chase off consistency. He got through the first round by finishing strong on Sunday (5th). Maybe he finally gets win #1 in 2014?
8. Dale Earnhardt Jr (LW-5)- Jr was one of the lowest Chase contenders to move on Sunday (Only Kahne finished lower and moved on). Dale finished 17th on a day to forget, lucky for him they start all over this weekend. His best and only top 10 finish was 9th at Loudon, he may need a bit more this round.
9. Ryan Newman (LW-11)- Newman advances by running well, but not great. Pretty much the definition of his 2014 season. But, for the first round that is all you need. It's still possible that he can do it again this round, but he may need to finish top 15 in every race and pull off a couple top 10's. 
10. Carl Edwards (LW-13)- Carl is going to need more to move on to the final 8. 20th, 17th, and 11th just wont get it done.
11. Denny Hamlin (LW-16)- The bottom guys get to hit refresh, which DH really wanted to do after Loudon (37th). Well DH hit his own refresh button on his way to a 12th place finish at Dover which moved him onto the next round.
12. Kasey Kahne (LW-10)- Kahne almost fell out of the last Chase spot after finishing 20th at Dover. It was a slow first three races where Kasey only picked up one top 15 and two top 20's, but as it is with everyone, he gets a fresh start.
13. Kyle Larson (LW-NR)- How great would it have been if Kyle Larson had made the Chase? He would be top 3 in these rankings after finishes of 3rd, 2nd, and 6th. Unfortunately, he can only get to 13th in the standings for now (or highest non Chase driver). 
14. Martin Truex Jr (LW-NR)- A rough falling out from MWR to Furniture Row that was mostly unfair for Truex, he has done well so far in the three Chase races (14th, 12th, and 7th). 
15. Clint Bowyer (LW-NR)- If he had made the Chase it would have been a tough start at Chicagoland (39th). Since, he has finishes of 14th and 9th. 

This week NASCAR drops from 16 Chase drivers to 12. Well at NASCAR Behind the Wall we have opened up the bottom of the standings to guys outside the top 16 (since we are now at 12). The top 12 will still all be current Chase drivers. We also dropped to the top 15, after next weeks race we will drop to 14, and so on until we get back to 12 drivers. At that point NASCAR will be ready to drop to 8 drivers and we will continue to do the top 12 the rest of the season. Why? Well, when going all the way down to the top 16 we start getting very inconsistent finishers so its all a judgement call on who is actually "hot" at the moment. Drivers have to earn it in these power rankings. 

Garry (Keselowski) and I (Harvick) were both wrong, but Thomas got it right.

William Frang (who writes for a different blog on Fantasy Football) also got it right this week.

Hannah also got it right this week! Thank's for the reminder since I missed it the first time around!

Well, that's the end to the first round of the new 2014 Chase format. NASCAR heads to Kansas this week to kick off round two with 12 drivers all back to even. It should be a fun round that concludes at Talladega in three weeks. Thanks for checking out NASCAR Behind the Wall.